Chicago Cubs Get a Much Needed Victory
In the second-half opener, the Chicago Cubs sent a powerful message to the rest of the league with a convincing 12-6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field.
Aramis Ramirez drove in four runs, Alfonso Soriano homered and added two RBI singles and Geovany Soto and Derrek Lee each hit two-run homers to end the Phillies four-game winning streak prior to the All-Star break.
“I think everybody came back fresh and forgot the first half, and it's a new season for us," Soriano said.
This marks the first time that the Cubs reach double digits since a 12-1 win over the Angels on June 20.
Chicago wanted an improvement
The Cubs made a promise to themselves that they would do much better than their mediocre performance during the first half of the season. With expectations high within the bullpen, the Cubs got a scare when starter Ryan Dempster (8-7) gave up a huge two-run homer to Ryan Howard of the Phillies.
It was the 17th off Dempster this season; he gave up 22 in 200 innings last year.
"After [Howard] hit it, I came in the dugout and said, 'Welcome back -- I missed all you guys,'" Dempster said. "Those are going to happen, especially with a guy like that, when you leave a ball over the plate and back over the middle. He doesn't miss too many of those, and he hits them a long way. I knew it was early, and we came right back after that."
Cubs beat up on Moyer
With that momentary lapse out of the way, the woeful Cubs, who entered the All-Star break having lost three of their last four, got things going in a hurry. The Cubs picked on starting pitcher Jamie Moyer who gave up two runs in the bottom of the first.
He was unable to get some outs and allowed Chicago to get off to an equally fast start.
"That first home run did get us going," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "We walked out there, and they took the momentum back away from us. That's kind of how the game went. It did get us going, but they put six runs on the board after that."
Moyer's main slip in the match was hitting Marlon Byrd and Tyler Colvin, who both eventually came around to score.
Then, the Cubs kept scoring. Over the second and third innings, the Cubs roughed up Moyer for two homers and four runs.
"It was just one of those nights," Manuel said. "They hit a couple home runs off us at the end to really put the game away. They got a big lead on us."
Manuel hinted that he was really disgusted by his club’s pitching especially by the two runs that Moyer gave in the bottom of the first.
“To me, the ultimate thing is, go out there and back it up with a zero, and I wasn't able to do that. Tonight, it was all about execution. I don't feel like I executed the way I can, and I feel like it's up to me to do something about it,” said Moyer.
His counterpart, Dempster, pitched well, striking out nine in 6 2/3 innings and gave up just the two first-inning runs. He played much better down the stretch.
Like so many other MLB teams, much of the Phillies' success has been thanks to their pitchers. "We need consistent pitching," Manuel said. "We've got holes. Look at it like this: we've got to play pretty good baseball. We've got to play in the high-.500s or .600. And that means our pitching needs to be very consistent.”
Now that the Phillies are aware of their problem, let's wait and see what changes will occur.
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